Let your voice be heard! Tell us what interests you, what drives you (crazy or otherwise) and what you want from life! This is a spot for you! We'll post things that we, as librarians, think is interesting, but we want to know what you find interesting. Please feel free to comment or email us.

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Archive for June, 2011

Bio: Super Seymour lived in China as a celebrated spirit of wealth and fortune. He was an avid thief, specializing in food and books. He traveled to America, hearing that there was a surplus of both. He made his headquarters in a small town known as Brockport, New York. On a late night raid in the Brockport Seymour Library, he was discovered by a group of teen volunteers who were having an all-night sleepover. He was welcomed to stay, which meant he could stop his thieving ways. He only needed one thing, a library card. He could borrow all of the books he wanted for free. He even got his own iPhone, to download ebooks and to listen to his favorites, Eminem, Beastie Boys and Usher. He’s perfectly happy living on the Mountain Dew, pizza crusts and Pocky leftover from teen programs. He likes to hang out with his friends in the BRATS and the TLC. The library teens liked him so much, they decided to make him their mascot, a position he will hold for the rest of eternity.

Sir Jeffrey Charles Blücher is a bunny from the town of Reading, located on Library Island. He has size 10 feet and his best friend is a cat named Sir Reads-a-lot. He loves to eat blueberry jelly, which gives him his brilliant color. His favorite drink is Starbucks coffee. He can often be found sitting in a giant comfy chair, playing Scrabble or reading. He is currently re-reading Harry Potter #7.

Where’d this little guy come from and why’s he talking about the summer reading programs? Keep checking out the blog to find out!

Howard the Bird
Howard is originally from Manhattan. He loves big cities with the constant hustle and bustle. Howard lived in a big nest above the main New York Public Library branch with his friends Susan and Greg.
Susan and Greg always boasted to Howard about their world travels. They had been to many different places in many different countries, and never hesitated to tell Howard all about where they have been. Howard usually just pretended that he didn’t mind that he never traveled with them. Secretly, he wished that Susan and Greg would ask him on their trips, but they were a couple and Howard never wanted to feel like a third wheel. So, he pretended to be content listening to their travelogues about Prague, Madrid, Paris and Athens.
The one place that interested Howard the most was Athens in the country of Greece and hearing his friends talk about the Parthenon and the Acropolis. Howard just knew that he had to leave Manhattan to visit Greece. So one mild, late spring day, Howard set off for Greece. He flew and flew and was delighted to reach Greece so quickly, especially since Susan and Greg said it had taken them weeks and weeks to fly there. Howard was quite impressed with himself, with how fast he had reached his destination.
When he arrived in Greece, he tried to find the Parthenon and the Acropolis. He figured they would be very large and that it would be hard to miss them. But, he couldn’t find them. Instead, he found Lake Ontario, the Greece Ridge Mall, Jackson’s Bakery, and the Greece Public Library. Sensing that he was not in the country of Greece, Howard stopped by the Greece Public Library to find out exactly what was going on. They told him he was in the Town of Greece in New York State. The friendly library staff gave Howard a tour of the library, showcasing the wall-length aquarium, the Quiet Study area, the inviting children’s room, and the wonderful Teen Space. Howard knew from the moment he saw the new bookshelves in the Teen Space, the large Graphic Novel and Comic collection, and the extensive selection of current teen fiction materials that this is where he belonged.
Howard wrote to Susan and Greg back in Manhattan, telling them of his accidental detour to the town of Greece, New York. He told them that he had decided to stay in Greece, living amongst the Gossip Girl series, and the Fruits Basket graphic novels. Howard now spends his days reading Teen fiction, recommending good books to library patrons, and dreaming of his next great adventure. For now, Howard is where he belongs.

Summer Reading Raffles

Every time you:
1. come to the library (tickets are at the library)
2. come to a program (tickets are at the library)
3. read a book (log in on the site)
4. write a review of a book (log in on the site)
5. answer our weekly question (log in on the site)

you’ll enter our weekly raffles. We’ll be raffling off books that have been signed by some amazing new teen authors. The books you might win will be displayed in the library and on the site each week.

And his friends seem sort of familar? Hmmm… maybe I should look it up in a book! Can I borrow yours?

Global, the Mascot of the Teen Space at the Phillis Wheatley Library
Name: Global
Library of Origin: Phillis Wheatley Library
Global doesn’t remember how the Phillis Wheatley Library came to be home. For Global the decision stay as the mascot was easy. Teens come from all over Rochester, NY to use this Library and they love Global. . Their homes of origin are from all over the world. ” I look like the world” says Global, ”So I will stay and represent you!” Global always carries a favorite book and loves to be squeezed.

Teen readers! Go to the Diversity in YA website to learn how you can enter to win a ton of new books!
From the website:Readers and Book Bloggers: We invite readers and book bloggers to read diverse MG and YA books throughout the summer (you choose the books!) and write an essay (at least 500 words) about your experience. You can post it on your website, Blogger, LiveJournal, Tumblr, or on Facebook; we only ask that your post be publicly readable.

What to read: You can read whichever diverse books you like! By diverse we mean: (1) main characters or major secondary characters (e.g., a love interest or best friend kind of character) who are of color or are LGBT; or (2) written by a person of color or LGBT author. If you need some suggestions, check out our monthly lists of new books, and these book lists at Black Teens Read.

Judging: Cindy Pon and Malinda Lo will select one grand prize winner in each category, and that winner will receive a giant collection of fabulous MG and YA books. In addition, our favorite blog posts may be posted on http://www.diversityinya.com later this year.

Prizes: Many major publishers have generously donated books to serve as prizes for our challenge. You can check out the preliminary list of prizes here, and we will update the page as more donations come in.

Fine Print: This challenge is open to US libraries only, and prizes can only be sent to a US mailing address

What are you going to do with your summer? Don’t know yet?
Why not find out what this guy will be doing over the summer at different public libraries!

Zero lived in China in a very tiny hut in a very tiny village. When he turned 17 years old, he decided it was time to travel. He had heard of this place called Atlantic City, in the land of New Jersey. Zero packed his purple suitcases with his most cherished belongings. First was his collection of horror movies, his pop cds. He even had room to bring the manga series Bleach with him! He traveled by planes, trains and automobiles to the land of New Jersey. He boarded one final train to take him to Atlantic City and immediately fell asleep. It felt like moments that he was sleeping, but actually, it was hours when he finally woke up. He peered out the windows expecting to see seagulls and taffy shops, but instead, all he saw was a city sign stating that he was in Rochester. And to make things worse, his suitcases were gone! He wandered around Rochester alone for days without any of his belongings. As soon as the homesickness reached its peak he stumbled into the Sully Branch Library. He had nothing left to fear, he found everything he lost within the walls of the library… And even though there was no saltwater taffy, he did find a beach and many friends to hang out there with.

To celebrate the anticipation of the release of the final movie in the series Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow Part II the Henrietta Public Library is excited to welcome four Wizard Rock bands including Whomping Willow for a summer concert to be held on Friday, July 1 from 6:00-8:30pm. Come and Rock Out with fellow HP fans!!! No registration required.

Why hello there little one! Who are you? Make sure not to get stuck in a rain storm! You might zap that cute hair of yours!

Highland Branch Library Mascot
Name: Sampson
Bio: Sampson was born with an eye defect where one eye was bigger than the other. As a teenager, all the other robots made fun of him for being different. So he begged his mom and dad to let him have surgery to fix his eye. Unfortunately, he went to a doctor who didn’t speak robot, so instead of fixing the problem he made it worse. So Sampson and his family came to Earth and ended up at the Highland Branch hoping to find new information about eye surgery and a new doctor. While he was there he found a lot of great books he wanted to read and discovered that he could read longer and faster with his huge eye. So he decided to keep his eye the way it was.
Favorite Books: Anything but Typical by Nora Raleigh Baskin and Spin: The Story of Michael Jackson by Sherry O’Keefe
Favorite Movie: I, Robot
Favorite Song: Mr. Roboto
Favorite Food: Nuts and bolts

Once upon a time a long time ago. Norm the Ninja was born. He grew up in an average everyday household. His parents were good parents except for one thing. They didn’t encourage reading (gasp) When Norm got older and had graduated from Ninja college, he started to get curious about libraries. He had never stepped foot in one and didn’t even know what they were for. So one day he decided to take a risk and go to the Chili Public Library. When he got there the first thing he noticed was the friendly atmosphere. This place isn’t so bad Norm thought to himself. He browsed through the DVDs and CDs and was blown away that he could actually borrow them for free if he got a library card. Norm got a card and felt good about his trip to the library. He even planned to go back the next day. The next day he went back to the Chili Public Library and looked at the books. Norm avoided the books the day before because he remembered that his parents didn’t like reading. But since he was trying new things Norm picked up a book and started to read it. An hour later he finished it. “Wow I really liked this book, Green Eggs and Ham” Before Norm could check out his new favorite book he heard a large CRASH. A giant panda broke into the library and had a blue pen and a large garbage bag. “Give me all the Dr. Seuss books or I’ll mark up the classics!” As if proving a point he grabbed a copy of Little Women and scribbled all over the pages. Librarians were in total panic and tried to find all the Dr. Seuss books they could find. “Sir, could you please give me that book. It’s by Dr. Seuss.” “Not on my watch” He set the book down and karate kicked the giant panda right in the gut. “Ooof.” The giant panda got up and gave him an angry glare. Now it was war. But Norm was too quick, he was already taking books out of the garbage bag. Before the giant panda could protest, Norm grabbed the pen and stabbed him in the leg. “ROAR!” He fell to the ground in pain. The library erupted in cheers. The giant panda was defeated and Norm was a hero. And that was the day he was asked to be the Chili Public Library mascot.

Welcome to Monroe County!

Hey everybody in Monroe County NY (and the universe)! This is a spot to check out what's going on in the library-sphere, what local librarians and teens are reading and any other interesting things we come upon.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact:
Cathy Kyle, Teen Librarian
at Chili (pronounced Ch-EYE LIE) Public Library
catherine.kyle@libraryweb.org